Cover not available
Article published In:
International Journal of Chinese Linguistics
Vol. 4:2 (2017) ► pp.191–256

Mandarin associative plural -men and NPs with -men

 | University of Hawai‘i at Ma̅noa
This paper discusses the syntax and semantics of -men and four types of phrases containing -men in Mandarin. I defend the view that -men should be analyzed as a plural morpheme as first argued in Li (1999) but argue against the analysis of positing -men in the D position or treating it as a definite determiner. It will be shown that definiteness is not inherent to -men and that -men is compatible with numerals and classifiers and should be in a position local to nouns. I propose an analysis of -men as an associative plural and explain the properties of the four types of expressions containing -men within a Neocarlsonian account of bare nominals. The formal account of the syntax and semantics of phrases containing -men advanced in this paper shows that it is not necessary to assume a functional category D that is always invisible in the grammar of Mandarin in order to account for the behaviors of its nominal arguments and argues for the lack of DP projections in Mandarin.
Keywords: Mandarin, -men , plurality, numerals, classifiers, DP, associative plurals, (in)definite
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous analyses, challenges and additional properties of -men
    • 2.1Previous analyses of -men
    • 2.2Challenges for the DP analysis of -men
      • 2.2.1Group classifiers and -men
      • 2.2.2Individual classifiers and -men
      • 2.2.3-Men marked common nouns in the pre-classifier position
    • 2.3Two less addressed properties of phrases containing -men
      • 2.3.1[N-men Num cl]: Its appositive nature
      • 2.3.2N-men: Its generic reading
    • 2.4Section summary
  • 3.-Men as an associative plural marker
    • 3.1Theoretical background: The Neocarlsonian account of bare nominals
    • 3.2Mandarin -men as an associative plural
    • 3.3N-men
    • 3.4The [Num cl N-men] phrase
    • 3.5The numerical approximation construction [Num-approximation cl N-men]
      • 3.5.1Structure and semantics of numerical approximation using ji/duo
      • 3.5.2Structure and semantics of [Num-approximation cl N-men]
    • 3.6The appositive phrase containing -men [N-men Num cl (person)]
    • 3.7Section summary
  • 4.Variation among speakers and remaining issues
    • 4.1Method
    • 4.2Results
    • 4.3General discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijchl.16015.jia
References (117)
References
Acquaviva, P. (2008). Lexical plurals: A morphosemantic approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Aikhenvald, A. Y. (2000). Classifiers: a typology of noun categorization devices. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Alonso-Ovalle, L. & Paula, M. -B. (2010). Modal Indefinites. Natural Language Semantics, 18(1), 1–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anderson, C. (2015). Numerical approximation using some. In H. Zeijlstra & E. Csipak (Eds.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung, 191, 54–69.Google Scholar
Alexiadou, A. (2011). Plural mass nouns and the morpho-syntax of number. In M. B. Washburn, K. McKinney-Bock, E. Varis, A. Sawyer & B. Tomaszewicz (Eds.), WCCFL28: Proceedings of the 28th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 33–41. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Alexiadou, A., Haegeman, L. M. & Stavrou, M. (2007). Noun phrase in the generative perspective. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Allan, K. (1977). Classifiers. Language, 531, 285–311. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biswas, P. (2014). Bangla associative plural: -ra: a cross-linguistic comparison with Chinese men and Japanese -tachi . In R. E. Santana-LaBarge (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 56–65. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Borer, H. (2005). Structuring sense, volume 1: In name only. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Borer, H. & Ouwayda, S. (2010). Men and their apples: Dividing plural and agreement plural. Talk presented at GLOW in Asia VIII, Beijing.Google Scholar
Bošković, Zeljko. 2005. On the locality of left branch extraction and the structure of NP. Studia Linguistica 591: 1–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2007. On the locality and motivation of move and agree: An even more minimal theory. Linguistic Inquiry 381: 589–644. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bošković, Z. (2008). What will you have, DP or NP? In Proceedings of 37th Conference of the North-Eastern Linguistic Society, 101–114. Amherst: GLSA, University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Bošković, Ž. & I. -T. C. Hsieh. (2013). On word order, binding relations, and plurality in Chinese Noun Phrases. Studies in Polish Linguistics, 81, 173–204.Google Scholar
Brugè, L. (2000). Categorie Funzionali del nome nelle lingue Romanze. Milan: Cisalpino.Google Scholar
(2002). The positions of demonstratives in the extended nominal projection. In G. Cinque (Eds.), Functional Structure in DP and IP, 15–53. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Butler, L. K. (2012). Crosslinguistic and experimental evidence for non-number plurals. Linguistic Variation, 121, 27–56. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carlson, G. N. (1977). Reference to kinds in English. Doctoral Dissertation, University of. Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
(1989). The Semantic Composition of English Generic Sentences. In G. Chierchia, B. Partee & R. Turner (Eds.), Properties, Types and Meaning. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 167–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chao, Y. R. (1968). A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cheng, L. -S., L. & Sybesma, R. (1999). Bare and not-so-bare nouns and the structure of NP. Linguistic Inquiry, 30(4), 509–542. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cheng, L. -S. L., Doetjes, J. & Sybesma, R. (2008). How universal is the Universal Grinder. Linguistic in the Netherlands, 50–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cheng, L. -S. L. & Sybesma, R. (2012). Classifiers and DP. Linguistic Inquiry, 43(4), 634–650. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cheung, C. -H. (2003). An Investigation of the Jingpo Nominal Structure. Doctoral Dissertation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Chierchia, G. (1984). Topics in the Syntax and Semantics of Infinitives and Gerunds, Doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Published in 1988 by Garland, New York.Google Scholar
(1998). Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics, 61, 339–405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010). Mass nouns, vagueness and semantic variation. Synthese, 1741, 99–149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corbett, G. G. (2000). Number. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dayal, V. (1992). The Singular-Plural Distinction in Hindi Generics, Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory II: OSU Working Papers in Linguistics, 401, 39–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2004). Number Marking and (in)definiteness in kind terms. Linguistics and Philosophy, 27(4), 393–450. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011). Bare Noun Phrases. In C. Maienborn, K. von Heusinger, & P. Portner (eds), Semantics: An International Handbook of Natural Language Meaning, 33(2), 1087–1108.Google Scholar
(2012). Bangla classifiers: Mediating between kinds and objects. Italian Journal of Linguistics, 24(2), 195–226.Google Scholar
(2014). Bangla plural classifiers. Language and Linguistics, 15(1). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dékány, É. (2011). A profile of the Hungarian DP – The interaction of lexicalization, agreement and linearization with the functional sequence. Doctoral dissertation. University of Tromsø.Google Scholar
De Belder, M. (2008). Size matters: Towards a syntactic decomposition of countability. In N. Abner & J. Bishop (Eds.), WCCFL 271, 116–122. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
(2011). A morphosyntactic decomposition of countability in Germanic. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics, 14(3), 203–240. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
den Besten, H. (1996). Associative DPs. In C. Cremers & M. den Dikken (Eds.), Linguistics in the Netherlands 19961, 13–24. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
del Gobbo, F. (1999). Nominal phrases in Mandarin and Cantonese. UCI Working Papers in Linguistics, 51, 11–32.Google Scholar
Doetjes, J. (1997). Quantifiers and selection: On the distribution of quantifying expressions in French, Dutch and English. Doctoral dissertation, Leiden University.Google Scholar
(2012). Count/mass distinctions across languages. In C. Maienborn, K. von Heusinger, & P. Portner (Eds.), Semantics: an international handbook of natural language meaning, 31, 2559–2580. De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Elbourne, P. (2001). E-type Anaphora as NP-Deletion, Natural Language Semantics, 91, 241–288. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2005). Situations and Individuals. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Fukui, N. (1988). Deriving the differences between English and Japanese: a case study in parametric syntax. English Linguistics, 51, 249–270. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gebhardt, L. (2009). Numeral classifiers and the structure of DP. Doctoral. dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.Google Scholar
Giusti, G. (1997). The categorial status of determiners. In L. Haegeman (Eds.), The New Comparative Syntax, 94–124. Cambridge University Press. London: Longman.Google Scholar
(2002). The functional structure of noun phrases. A bare phrase structure approach. In G. Cinque (Eds.), Functional structure in DP and IP: The cartography of syntactic structures, 11, 54–90. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goral, D. R. (1979). Numeral classifier systems: A Southeast Asian cross-linguistic analysis. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 4 1, 1–72.Google Scholar
Gou, E., Rao, G., Xiao, X., & Zang, J. (2016). Dashuju beijingxia BCC yuliaoku de yanzhi [The construction of the BCC Corpus in the age of Big Data]. Yuliaoku yuyanxue [Corpus Linguistics] (1).Google Scholar
Harbour, D. (2011). Valence and atomic number. Linguistic Inquiry, 421, 561–594. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heim, I. & Kratzer, A. (1998). Semantics in Generative Grammar. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.Google Scholar
Hsieh, M. -L. (2008). The internal structure of Noun Phrases in Chinese. Taiwan Journal of Linguistics Book Series in Chinese Linguistics 2. Taipei: Crane Publishing.Google Scholar
Huang, C. -T. J. Li, A., & Li, Y. (2009). The syntax of Chinese. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huang, C. -T. J. (2014). On syntactic analyticity and parametric theory. In A. Li, A. Simpson & W. -T. D. Tsai (Eds.), Chinese Syntax in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective, 1–48. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Iljic, R. (1994). Quantification in Mandarin Chinese: Two Markers of Plurality. Linguistics, 321: 91–116. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Imai, M., & Gentner, D. (1997). A crosslinguistic study of early word meaning: Universal ontology and linguistic influence. Cognition, 621, 169–200. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ionin, T., & Matushansky, O. (2006). The composition of complex cardinals. Journal of Semantics, 231, 315–360. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiang, L. J. (2009). Monotonicity and measure phrases in Chinese. In Proceedings from the Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society, 45(1), 303–317.Google Scholar
(2012). Nominal arguments and language variation. Doctoral Dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
(2015). Marking (in)definiteness in classifier languages. Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics, 81, 417–449.Google Scholar
Kayne, R. S. (2005). A note on the syntax of quantity in English. In Movement and silence, 176–214. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, D. (1989). Demonstratives. In J. Almog, J. Perry & H. Wettstein (Eds.), Themes from Kaplan, 481–563. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kurafuji, T. (2004). Plural morphemes, definiteness, and the notion of semantic parameter. Language and Linguistics, 5.1, 211–242.Google Scholar
Kramer, R. (2009). Definite markers, phi-features, and agreement: A morphosyntactic investigation of the Amharic DP. Doctoral dissertation, UC Santa Cruz.Google Scholar
(2010). The Amharic definite marker and the syntax-morphology interface. Syntax, 131, 196–240. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2016). A split analysis of plurality. Linguistic Inquiry, 47(3), 527–559. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kratzer, A. (2009). Making a pronoun: fake indexicals as windows into the properties of pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry, 401, 187–237. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krifka, M. (1995). Common nouns: A contrastive analysis of Chinese and English. In G. Carlson & F. Pelletier (Eds.), The generic book, 398–411. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Krifka, M., Pelletier, F. J., Gregory N. Carlson, ter Meulen, A., Link, G., & Chierchia, G. (1995). Genericity: An introduction . In G. N. Carlson and F. J. Pelletier (Eds.), The generic book, 1–124. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kwon, S., and A. Zribi-Hertz. (2004). Number from a syntactic perspective: Why plural marking looks ‘truer’ in French than in Korean. In O. Bonami and P. C. Hofherr (Eds.), Empirical issues in formal syntax and semantics 51, 133–158.Google Scholar
Lecarme, J. (2002). Gender “Polarity”: Theoretical aspects of Somali nominal morphology. In Paul Boucher & Marc Plenat (Eds.), Many morphologies, 109–141. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Li, P., Dunham, Y. & Carey, S. (2009). Of substance: The nature of language effects on entity construal. Cognitive Psychology, 581, 487–524. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, X. -P. (2011). On the Semantics of Classifiers in Chinese. Doctoral Dissertation, Bar Ilan University & University of Mainz.Google Scholar
(2013). Numeral classifiers in Chinese: the syntax-semantics interface. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Y. -H. A. (1997). Structures and Interpretations of Nominal Expressions. Ms. University of Southern California, LA, California.Google Scholar
(1998). Argument Determiner Phrases and Number Phrases. Linguistic Inquiry, 29 (4), 693–702. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1999). Plurality in a classifier language. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 81, 75–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Y. -H. A., & Feng, S. (2015). ‘yi’ zi shenglüe de yunlü tiaojian [The prosodic conditions on "yi"-deletion]. Linguistic Sciences, 14(1), 1–12.Google Scholar
Li, Y. (2015). Yetan hanyu mingci duanyu de neibu jiegou [Revisit the internal structure of Chinese noun phrases]. Zhongguo Yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language], 21, 99–104.Google Scholar
Lima, S. (2014). The Grammar of individuation and counting. PhD Dissertation. University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Longobardi, G. (1994). Reference and proper names: a theory of N-movement in syntax and logical form. Linguistic Inquiry, 251, 609–665.Google Scholar
Lü, S. (1944). ‘ge’ zi de yingyong fanwei, fulun danweici qian ‘yi’ zi de tuoluo. [On the usages of GE and the dropping of the numeral yi before classifiers]. Xihua Daxue zhongguo wenhua huikan, 145–175.Google Scholar
(1947). Zhongguo Wenfa Yaolüe [Outline of Chinese Grammar], 1–3. Beijing: Xueyuan Press.Google Scholar
(1999). Xiandai Hanyu Babai Ci [800 Words in Chinese]. Beijing: Shangwu Press (1st edition, 1980).Google Scholar
Mathieu, E. (2012). Flavors of division. Linguistic Inquiry, 43(4), 650–679. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013). On the plural of the singulative. In I. Kučerová (ed.), McGill working papers in Linguistics.Google Scholar
(2014). Many a plural. In A. Aguilar-Guevara, B. Le Bruyn & J. Zwarts (Eds), Weak referentiality, 157–181. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Mathieu, E. & Zareikar, G. (2015). Measure words, plurality, and cross-linguistic variation. Linguistic Variation, 15(2), 169–200. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Melchin, P. 2015. Cross-Linguistic Variation in Nominal Functional Sequences and Pronoun Types. Ms. University of Ottawa.Google Scholar
Mendia, J. A. (2016). Epistemic numbers. Presented at ConSOLE XXIV, University of York, York United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Montague, R. (1974). Formal philosophy: selected papers of Richard Montague, edited with an introduction by R. Thomason. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Moravcsik, E. (1994). Associative plurals. Presented at the Pre-inaugural Meeting of the Association for Linguistic Typology, Konstanz, Germany.Google Scholar
(2003). A Semantic Analysis of Associative Plurals, Studies in Language, 271, 469–503. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nakanishi, K. & Tomioka, S. (2004). Japanese Plurals are Exceptional. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 131, 113–140. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Neeleman, A. & SzendrőI, K. (2007). Radical pro drop and the morphology of pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry, 38(4), 671–714. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norman, J. (1988). Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Noguchi, T. (1997). Two types of pronouns and variable binding. Language, 731, 773–797. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ott, D. (2011). Diminutive-formation in German: Spelling out the classifier analysis. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics, 14(1), 1–46. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Partee, B. (1986). Noun phrase interpretation and type-shifting principles. In J. Groenendijk, D. de Jongh & M. Stokhof (Eds.), Studies in Discourse Representation Theory and the Theory of Generalized Quantifiers, 115–143. GRASS 8. Foris. Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Pelletier, F. (1975). Non-singular reference: some prelimiaries. Philosophia 5:4. [Reprinted in: Mass terms: some philosophical problems. ed. by F. Pelletier, 1979. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1–14.]Google Scholar
Runić, J. (2014a). A new look at argument ellipsis: Evidence from Slavic. In H. -L. Huang, E. Poole & A. Rysling (Eds.), Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society 43 (NELS 43). Amherst: GLSA, University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar
(2014b). A new look at clitics, clitic doubling, and argument ellipsis: Evidence from Slavic. Doctoral dissertation, University of Connecticut, Storrs.Google Scholar
Rygaloff, A. (1973). Grammaire Éleméntaire du Chinois. Paris: PUF.Google Scholar
Sharvy, R. 1980. A More General Theory of Definite Descriptions. The Philosophical Review, 891, 607–624. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Solt, S. (2015). Q-adjectives and the semantics of quantity. Journal of semantics, 32(2), 221–273. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sprouse, J., Schutze, C. T., & Almeida, D. (2013). A comparison of informal and formal acceptability judgments using a random sample from Linguistic Inquiry 2001–2010. Lingua, 1341, 219–248. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tang, C. -C. J. (1990). A note on the DP analysis of the Chinese noun phrase. Linguistics, 281, 337–354. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
T’sou, B. K. (1976). The structure of nominal classifier systems. In P. N. Jenner, L. C. Thompson & S. Starosta (Eds.), Austroasiatic studies II, Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication, 131, 1215–1247. The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu.Google Scholar
Vassilieva, M. (2005). Associative and pronominal plurality. Doctoral Dissertation: Stony Brook University.Google Scholar
Wiltschko, M. (2008). The syntax of non-inflectional plural marking. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 261, 639–694. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wolter, L. (2006). That’s that: the semantics and pragmatics of demonstrative noun phrases. Doctoral dissertation, UCSC.Google Scholar
Yang, S. -F. H. (2005). Plurality and Modification in Mandarin Noun Phrases. Doctoral Dissertation: The University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Yang, R. (2001). Common nouns, classifiers, and quantification in Chinese. Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University.Google Scholar
Yorifuji, A. (1976). Men ni Tsuite [A Study of the Suffix –Men]. Area and Culture Studies 261: 73–88. Tokyo: Tokyo Gaikokugo Daigaku Ronshu.Google Scholar
Yuan, J. (1961). Hanyu fangyan gaiyao [An outline of the Chinese dialects]. Beijing: Wenzi Gaige Chubanshe [Language Reform Publishing House].Google Scholar
Zavala, R. (2000). Multiple classifier systems in Akatek Mayan. In G. Senft (ed.), Systems of nominal classification, pp. 114–146. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Zhang, N. N. (2013). Classifier structures in Mandarin Chinese. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zweig, E. (2005). Nouns and adjectives in numeral NPs. In Proceedings of the Northeast Linguistics Society 351.Google Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Li, Daoxin
2024. Controlling overt subjects in Mandarin. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 33:3 ► pp. 333 ff. DOI logo
Liu, Yi & Kook-Hee Gil
2024. Second language acquisition of English plurals by Chinese learners. In Current Perspectives on Generative SLA – Processing, Influence, and Interfaces [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders, 70], ► pp. 88 ff. DOI logo
Kim, Kyumin & Xiao Meng
2022. Variation in the Syntax of Plural Markers: The Case From Plural –Menin Mandarin. Studia Linguistica 76:2 ► pp. 507 ff. DOI logo
Park, So-Young
2022. Two types of plurals and numeral classifiers in classifier languages: the case of Korean. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 31:2 ► pp. 139 ff. DOI logo
Choi, Sea Hee & Tania Ionin
2021. Plural marking in the second language: Atomicity, definiteness, and transfer. Applied Psycholinguistics 42:3 ► pp. 549 ff. DOI logo
Li, Yan
2020. On the Semantics of Suffix -men and NP-men in Mandarin Chinese. In Chinese Lexical Semantics [Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 11831], ► pp. 788 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 january 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.